Close-up of Greece and "war theater" area with with the Persian invasion routes. Note hotspots for important stages and battles of Xerxes' campaign. (Note also the inclusion of the battle of Marathon from the previous Persian War).

A part of the Greek fleet advances on the Persian (Phoenicians, Egyptians and Persia's Greek allies) fleet around Artemisium. The sails and masts will be stowed and oars lowered into the water for battle when they are close enough to the enemy fleet.
(EDSITEment reconstruction from resources through the EDSITEment-reviewed The Perseus Project.)

Tempe, on the river Strymon (Macedonia), where Xerxes' is alleged to have made a human sacrifice to the gods.
Image courtesy of Livius.org.

The ruins of the citadel of ancient Sardis, where Xerxes' armies gathered and spent the winter of 481 B.C., before the final march to the Hellespont and the crossing to Europe.
Image courtesy of Livius.org.

View from Artemisium on the island of Euboea, where the naval battle between the Persian and Greek fleets were fought.
Image courtesy of Livius.org.

A timeline reconstruction animation of Thermopylae as it may have looked at the time of the battle. View is from Spartan's last stand hillock. Refresh browser to view again from start.
Based on recent (1970's) photos of Thermopylae from The Perseus Project.

Beached ships. Marathon

Beached ships. Xerxes invasion, the island of Euboia, during the sea
battles at Artemisium. In the Aegean of 480 BCE, failure to beach warships in a severe storm could lead to disaster. The Persian fleet lost many ships this way during a great storm.

An aerial reconstruction of Thermopylae as it may have looked at the time of the battle. The Greeks rebuilt the so-called Phocian wall as part of their defense strategy. The Persian forces would have come initially from the left along the seashore in this illustration, where they were held back by the Greeks. The Persian "Immortals" eventually found a path (poorly guarded by the Phocians) that took them into the hills (toward bottom edge of this image), so that they could come up behind the rest of the Greek force from the bottom right of this image.

EDSITEment-created reconstruction of Persian archers based on a mural piece from The Achaemenid Persia site found through the EDSITEment-reviewed Perseus Project. Archers were among the many troops the Greeks at Thermopylae had to contend with, especially in the Spartan's final stand.

The Hellespont today, as seen from Abydos, on the Greek side.
Image courtesy of Livius.org.

A bust of Leonidas, who led both the Spartan contingent and was overall commander of the Greek forces at Thermopylae.
Image courtesy of Livius.org.

The Athos peninsula today. Xerxes had a canal built across this peninsula (follow an imaginary line across the isthmus from the RED dot on the upper left of the image) to shorten the route of his navy.
Image courtesy of Livius.org.

This may have been the secret pass that the Persians used to come up behind the Greek defenders at Thermopylae. The Greek traitor Ephialtes told the Persians about the pass.
Image courtesy of Livius.org.

The origin of the river Hebrus, in modern-day Bulgaria. Ancient Doriscus was near the Hebrus.
Image courtesy of Livius.org.

A ground-level view of the location of Xerxes' Athos peninsula canal.
Image courtesy of Livius.org.